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Former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland has been hospitalized, just two weeks after he was charged with aggravated corruption following disclosures in files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Jagland, 75, was hospitalized “due to the strain arising in the wake of this case,” attorney Anders Brosveet at Elden Law Firm told Bloomberg in a statement Monday.
Jagland, who also served as the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, is currently a focus of the high-profile Epstein probe.
Reports on the Epstein file disclosures suggest Jagland may have stayed at Epstein’s properties in Paris, New York, and Palm Beach while leading the Council of Europe. Jagland has denied any criminal wrongdoing and maintains that he never visited Epstein’s private island.
Jeffrey Epstein emailed with former Council of Europe secretary general Thorbjørn Jagland in 2018, suggesting he tell Russian President Vladimir Putin he could get insight on then-newly elected President Donald Trump. (AP Photo, Terje Pedersen, NTB scanpix)
The Council of Europe recently lifted Jagland’s immunity for his 10-year tenure at the organization’s request, opening up the corruption charge investigation.
Norway’s economic crime authority has already conducted searches of Jagland’s private residences. Norwegian diplomats Terje Rød-Larsen and his wife, Mona Juul, are also under investigation by police, according to Bloomberg.
Jagland is one of several prominent global figures named in the recently disclosed documents. His legal team insists he is cooperating with authorities but argues there are no grounds for prosecution.
Jagland “takes this matter very seriously, but wishes to emphasize that he believes there are no circumstances that constitute criminal liability,” Brosveet said in a Feb. 11 statement.
Jagland was the central figure behind the decision to award the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat. At the time, Jagland was the newly appointed chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and the choice was a controversial one at the time.
Jagland was the primary Nobel Prize advocate for Obama within the five-member committee. While some members were initially skeptical — given that Obama had been in office for less than nine months and the nomination deadline was just 12 days after his inauguration — Jagland reportedly used his influence to secure a unanimous vote.
He argued the prize should not just reward past deeds but should be used to “strengthen” a leader’s ongoing efforts toward global diplomacy.
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President Donald Trump rebuked Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize from 2009 as he pitched his own candidacy for the prize last fall.
“He got it for doing nothing,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Oct. 9. “Obama got a prize — he didn’t even know what [for] — he got elected, and they gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country.”
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